


Tragedy—And How it Changes Everything

by orphan_account



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure tri., Digimon Adventure: (Anime 2020)
Genre: A way to connect Psi and Tri, Altered Mental States, Amnesia, But whatever, Does it count as amnesia if it's reincarnation?, Drowning, Featuring: Sora and Koushiro being badass, Gen, I don't know if the violence is actually that graphic?, Memory Loss, Reincarnation, Soul Bond, This is my first time writing a metal breakdown And It Shows, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24819082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Okay, so. Something had obviously gone wrong. This wasn't how things were supposed to be, at all.
Relationships: platonic only
Kudos: 17





	Tragedy—And How it Changes Everything

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo a lot of this takes place during Digimon Tri, but i haven't seen that in months so I just took tiny bits i remembered and ran. :/ I didn't even run _with_ them, oh no. I kidnapped them, cloned them horribly, then threw everything down a ditch and twisted almost everything I had remembered. So uh, have fun with that?
> 
> Btw, I switch between Japanese and American quite a bit. For instance, Jou holds the crest of responsibility and Mimi holds purity. They fit their personalities the best, in my opinion. I also call Koushiro's partner HerculesKabuterimon instead of HerakleKubuterimon or whatever it was.

(Meiko)  
This was all her fault. She knew this.

She hadn’t been any help. All she did was make things worse. It was her failing her job as a partner that caused Meico-chan to go feral, her not being able to let go that killed Taichi, and her killing Taichi that caused Ordinemon to be born. 

It was her fault the world was ending.

But what could she do? All she ever did was mess up. She couldn’t protect her friends, her family, Taichi, _Meico_.

Ordinemon let out a cry, and all Meiko wanted to do was run to her.

But she would lead her to here instead. She would help those that she still _could_.

And oh, she tried. But when a blast headed her way there was once again nothing she could do. Agumon tried, he did. But he was too far away, and the blast too close. Meiko didn’t have much chance to think of anything before she was hit.

(She felt...forgiven. That. That was...nice.)

~

(Yamato)  
The battle was not going well. Heck, even before the battle, things hadn’t been going well. 

The wrong-ness hit an all-time high when Taichi died, because of course! Of course, one of the few people who could hold the team together in the face of tragedy was the one who _died_.

Wrong-ness. There were over 60,000 words in the Japanese language and over a million in English, but the only word Yamato could come up with to describe the issues surrounding him was ‘wrongness’. Typical.

And of _course_ the being who was arguably at most fault for Taichi’s death had to swoop in and drop yet another bomb on them. They were on a time limit, they had to beat Ordinemon before Jesmon decided to erase all technology. Yamato knew that would be bad. Not how bad, he was pretty sure only Koushiro truly grasped that, but bad.

Follow that up with Meiko’s very sudden hit, and consequential dea— _disappearance_ , and Yamato was ready to break down. To just…let Taichi’s death fully wash over him, and cry. But he couldn’t. And he didn’t.

He could hear Mimi scream, Sora and Joe gasp. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t fair at _all_.

Hope flared in his chest when he saw Agumon digivolve, an orange glow changing him to WarGreymon. Was...was it possible? But...The hope was quickly dashed when the hole in his soul didn’t change. He felt just as empty as before.

“Agumon...digivolved? Is it possible that Taichi—” 

“He’s not.” Somewhere, Yamato felt bad for destroying Sora’s hope. She had sounded so weakly optimistic, but he knew. He knew, in the very center of his being, that it wasn’t Taichi that Agumon had gotten courage from.

“He’s not.” He repeated, as a broken whisper.

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon didn’t let their surprise affect their assault. He could briefly feel both wonder if they could fuse, but touching into the bond quickly answered that question. A whole section had been brutally ripped away, leaving it torn. Yamato could feel MetalGarurumon wonder how it was usable even for partial telepathy, and he found himself wondering the same thing. Taichi had been a vital part of their souls. He had wormed himself into their cracks, and with him gone, they were literally in pieces. Yamato wondered if it would get any worse if any of the rest of them died, and all three cringed. None wanted to even imagine that possibility. 

Yamato’s attention was torn from introspection when Ordinemon roared. Her feathers flew out, piercing the sand of the beach and water’s surface, before beginning to morph. Yamato paled. Oh that was not good.

A Myotismon, a couple Kuwagumon (seriously, what was it with the Kuwagumon?), Some Gotsumon, an indeterminable amount of Divermon, and others formed that he did and didn’t recognize, and started attacking the digimon and humans.

Oh noooooo, this was...really bad. Crap. Quick, think. What could be do?

There wasn’t as much time to do that as he would’ve liked however, and the group was quickly split up. Who got with who, he didn’t know, but he was alone. Great.

Before he could even fully grasp what that meant for him, a freaking metal DRAGON came hurtling towards him. 

“Of course it’s a freaking dragon!” He murmured to himself, and then _ran_. It roared, and chased after him. He jumped to the side when he heard the tell-tale signs of an energy beam, barely dodging it and stumbling slightly as a result. The digimon passed him, and looped back around. MetalGarurumon poked at the bond, curious as to where his partner was, and Yamato felt him immediately head his way with a pulse of fear. 

The digimon charged up another beam, and Yamato tensed.

When the digimon fired, he jumped.

Or, tried to.

He tripped before he could, and he felt the blast pass through his chest and shoulder. 

He could only look at (in) himself in shock as he collapsed.

(MetalGarurumon roared in rage, but Yamato and, oddly, WarGreymon, didn’t feel scared. The warmth passing over them was so familiar, and so so cherished. If this is what dying felt like, he gladly accepted it. But Yamato knew it was something, some _one_ , different. He died warm, and happy)

~

(Joe)  
Jou knew there were things about the bond between Yamato and Taichi that even they weren’t aware of.

He had seen enough of it to know. There were the things they just didn’t mention (like the telepathy. Yeah, apparently that existed.), but there were also things they just didn’t notice. 

For instance, the shared responsibilities. Yamato seemed to hold responsibility over Taichi’s pronunciation (more specifically, English pronunciation) and you could see Yamato’s influence in his writing style if you compared them. Taichi, on the other hand, seemed to be in charge of maintaining Yamato’s balance and spacial awareness. Jou had, on more than one occasion, noticed Yamato’s gait become more graceful and controlled the closer Taichi got. It was quite interesting, but he had never mentioned it, as it hadn’t seemed very important. Of course, he hadn’t realized just how much they affected each other, or he definitely would have. He didn’t realize, even when Yamato had been tripping far more than usual after the Accident. He didn’t realize, when Yamato walked into the wall instead of the through the door. He didn’t realize, until Yamato tripped and got hit. 

He was barely aware of Sora’s horrified shout beside him, just the facts, which he rolled over again and again in his mind. It just didn’t make sense. But it also made all the sense. 

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice...” he murmured hoarsely.

MetalGarurumon was in shock and enraged, he could tell. They could all probably tell.

Jou watched as the powerful Mega shot his ice cannons at the Divermon that had been keeping him, and the following foreboding feeling was so heavy, it was all he could do to stare as the ice completely covered the intended targets, and continued towards Vikemon. 

He inhaled sharply, and took off towards the bank.

Sora, who had grabbed a bat from...somewhere, turned towards him with widened (teary?) eyes.

“Jou, where—”

“Vikemon!” He yelled as loud as he could, but Vikemon didn’t hear. Ordinemon did, however, and flew away from the approaching ice.

Jou could feel his breath catch in his throat as he ran, primal terror filling his lungs. If the ice reached his partner, it would be strong enough to keep him in place for Ordinemon to attack. Unless Vikemon got away _now_ , he would never be able to escape the fast approaching doom.

“VIKEMON!” He leapt onto the frozen water, running as fast as he could, shouting as loud as he could. Sora, Mimi, and Koushiro’s own shouts were ignored, in favor of pushing himself farther.

Jou was about to yell again, when a tentacle broke through the ice, wrapping around his body and clamping his mouth shut, leaving him to watch helplessly as his partner’s lower body and arm were encased in ice.

Shrieking laughter filled his senses, and an almost woman-like squid digimon rose from the depths. 

“Looks like _someone_ got a little... _tied up_ over here,” the white-washed Ursula cackled hoarsely. Jou paused his struggling and deadpanned at her. That was…a really bad pun. Not even bad enough to be funny, just...bad.

His attention was pulled away from his unknown captor by the pained roar that filled the air and vibrated through Jou’s very core. His eyes snapped to the fight. Ordinemon _had_ taken advantage of Vikemon’s position, and was shooting razor feathers at him. Jou wished with all his might that Vikemon would use Mjollnir, and, somehow, his wish was granted. Vikemon fired Mjollnir and Morning Star, and slammed Ordinemon through the thick ice. Jou internally cheered, willing his partner to take the break for what it was and _get away_. 

“That does not look pleasant...” he heard Ursula murmur, and turned away from his partner to see what she was looking at. He winced. MetalGarurumon was not treating that dragon digimon nicely. 

He heard another crack as Ordinemon rose from the waters, and began to struggle. He had to get out, his partner needed him! He couldn’t let him down! 

His crest lit up, and the squid lady winced, loosening her grip enough for Jou to slip out. 

Luckily, the ground(?) was close enough that he didn’t get hurt, and Jou sprinted away. Vikemon was holding his ground, especially with WarGreymon there to help out now, but Jou wouldn’t feel better until he was there, helping his partner break out.

But before he could get close, Ursula grabbed him again.

“Ah, ah, ahhh~ We don’t want you escaping now, do we?” Jou struggled as best he could, but it was pointless. The digimon was at least champion level, which Jou had no chance of beating on his own. “Come on~ Enjoy the show” Her grating laugh made him shiver, it was _horrible_.

Ursula’s eyes narrowed, and her tentacles tightened. Aaaaand he’d said that out loud. Great. He let out a breathless scream.

“Zip it, if you know what’s good for you.” She hissed. Jou felt dizzy.

She turned him back around, and Jou’s attention went back to the fight. He blinked sluggishly. Vikemon was still stuck, and Ordinemon was (luckily?) too preoccupied with WarGreymon to go after him much. The two had made a system, it seemed. WarGreymon would fly around, distracting Ordinemon and throwing smaller than normal fireballs at her face, while Vikemon would snipe her with Mjollnir and Morning Star, dragging them across the ice to bring them back, chipping it even more each time.

He relaxed slightly, and as soon as he did, WarGreymon started fading, He and Vikemon inhaled sharply, shocked and confused, and Ordinemon took advantage of the surprise to strike WarGreymon with an energy beam.

He was disintegrated before he hit the ground.

“NO!” Jou yelled, struggling once more against Ursula, horror filling his very being. Taichi’s had been deniable, Yamato’s had been numbing, but WarGreymon’s? Tears pricked at Jou’s eyes, and he screamed. 

Ursula(mon?) grunted, tightening her grip once more. “No no, we aren’t doing that.”

With no other warning, Jou found himself under the icy water.

His eyes widened, surprise pushing his breath out and terror shutting his mouth before he could breathe in again. He pushed at Ursula’s tentacles with his free arm, desperate to get out, to breathe, but everything seemed to want him under. The water pressed against him on all sides, and he was helpless to fight it. 

His struggles began to cease as his lungs burned and his ears rang.

He could feel Vikemon struggle to reach him, but he couldn’t focus on that. The surface tantalized him, shining down on his paralyzed body. The final bubbles expelled from his lungs as he finally breathed felt downright sadistic. 

He felt a twinge of fear as he truly realized that he was dying, but it faded. He had lived…a good life, he supposed. He’d had a nice family, a kind girlfriend, amazing friends, fascinating adventures…

He felt some semblance of peace as his consciousness faded away.

(His death had not been pleasurable, but he somehow felt that there were people who had made it...better. Numbed the cold with warmth, and gave his lungs a sense of fresh air, even when filled with water)

~

(Sora)  
Hououmon fought beside her, and Sora felt strangely lucky.

That sure was sick of her, wasn’t it?

3 of her best friends were dead, and she considered herself lucky. Disgusting.

The digimon that had grabbed Jou had not resurfaced for at least 3 minutes, when Vikemon had roared out in a particular type of rage. The woman squid was destroyed in seconds after resurfacing, but Jou had not been brought back up. Vikemon’s rage was ice cold, both figuratively and literally. He froze the whole ocean as far as the eye could see, before turning to Ordinemon. Sora, safely up in a tree, watched the enraged Vikemon and MetalGarurumon (was it her, or did MetalGarurumon seem slightly...unstable?) beat on Ordinemon while Rosemon and HerculesKabuterimon stood by awkwardly. 

Hououmon’s ‘break’ for Sora felt more like punishment the more she watched. Her heart ached, and she longed for the ability to help them all. She couldn’t see Koushiro, but Mimi was on the beach below her (safe, for now).

The cliff shook as Hououmon defeated another bundle of digimon, and Sora shivered. She was losing so many friends today. What had she done wrong? When would it _stop_?

Sora heard Mimi scream, and that was it. She was done.

The only thing she heard as leapt down the cliff was Mimi’s screams, set on repeat, and she lifted her bat with a yell of her own. 

The first Candmon shattered with no warning, and she grinned. That’s what it got, messing with her Mimi. The rest of the Candmon and Terriermon turned to face her, and she giggled. 

“You don’t _get_ to hurt my friend!” She swung, and a Terriermon went flying. Keeping her momentum, she hit and destroyed two more of the monsters surrounding her friend, and finished by smashing another Candmon to the ground. 

She deftly dodged the blasts they threw her way. Amateurs. No glorified candle or stuffed animal would stop Sora from protecting her Mimi.

“Sora!” Her Mimi called out, in fear for her life. That was okay, Sora would protect her.

“Get out of here!” She yelled back, smashing another Candmon and dodging the hot wax. One blob hit her cheek, but no matter. 

“You’ll get hurt!” Sora growled. Couldn’t Mimi tell that her not leaving was making Sora’s job harder? Sora jumped over a Terriermon, her boot slamming into and destroying a Candmon. After crossing the mob, she grabbed Mimi’s wrist and ran. Normally she wouldn’t do such a brash thing without permission, but her Mimi would understand. She was in danger, and it was Sora’s job to make it so she wasn’t.

Her Mimi spoke up as they reached the edge of the beach, her dainty brow furrowed and pretty pink lips set in a frown. “I don’t understand Sora, you’re acting really weird.” 

Sora wasn’t sure on what her Mimi didn’t understand. Nonetheless, she would reassure her, “It’s nothing, please stay here. You’ll be safe.”

Mimi’s frown deepened. “But I have to help you and Rosemon.” 

Neither she nor Rosemon would let their Princess fight, she would get hurt. Sora clutched her Mimi’s shoulders.

“You can help us by staying safe, please.”

“But—” Sora cut her off by running away. Normally she would’ve listened, but the mob was coming closer and she had a job. 

“Stay aWAY!” She made her statement with a slam-hit on a Terriermon. It shattered, and she moved to next one, swinging at a Candmon that tried to jump her. It’s flame attack hit the ground below her, and exploded. Sora grunted, and raised her arm to her face. The flames bounced harmlessly off her arm and slightly burned her boot, which she slammed over the closest Candmon. 

She slammed her bat onto the next Terriermon, and it’s shattered. She noticed with pleasure that a good chunk of the mob was defeated, and that none had escaped toward where her Mimi was…not?

With panic, Sora scanned her surroundings. She couldn’t believe she’d let Mimi go like that!

Luckily, she hadn’t gone far. Just walked over to the tree lines. She turned her attention back to the mob, and dodged a pellet blast from a Terriermon, using momentum to swing and hit it, then stomp on another Candmon. 

She was lining up to hit another Terriermon, when her Mimi ran in with a stick. Her eyes widened, and dread settled in her gut. 

“Mimi!”

“Hyah!” With a battle cry, her Princess slammed the stick on the head of a Terriermon. Immediately, the mob turned to her. Sora went cold.

“Get out of here! You’ll get hurt!”

Her Mimi glared. “So will you!” Sora narrowed her eyes.

Without hesitation, she moved her right leg between Mimi’s legs, bent down, and hoisted her over her shoulders. Mimi gasped, and Sora ran.

“Sora!!” Her Mimi squeaked, but Sora continued running. Only when she got her Princess somewhere truly safe, where she wouldn’t feel the need to put herself in more danger, Sora would go back. 

A pellet blast hit the ground by her feet and frustration was filling Sora’s veins. Why wouldn’t they just leave her Mimi alone! 

She laid her Princess down on the grass, behind some trees, and ran back to the mob.

“Sora!”

She accentuated her return by jumping on two Candmon, frustration fueling her. 

They would not walk a single step closer to her Mimi. 

She kicked a Terriermon away as it moved by her, and spun on her left heel to hit another with a bat, stomping on a Candmon with her right. She continued her pattern of kicking, hitting, and destroying with the focus only a protector like her could. Soon though, she noticed, she was surrounded.

A pellet blast hit her back, and Sora crumpled with a cry. She rolled over quickly, barely dodging a purple flame thrown at her, and kicked the Terriermon that shot her. She got up and slammed it with her bat, destroying it. 

Sora hit a Candmon down and pressed the tip of her bat on it’s flame, extinguishing it. She twisted to face the next opponent, and was met with the bright orange light of flame. Sora was barely able to twist to the side before it hit. Upon contact with her face, it exploded, and she couldn’t see out her right eye anymore.

Briefly, she wondered who was screaming, but ignored it. She _had_ to protect her Mimi. Sora tightened the grip on her bat, grit her teeth, and stood up. She pushed her tingly body to swing the bat, destroying another Terriermon and Candmon. 

She was able to push herself some more, but not being able to fully see or move was taking a toll. Sora was getting hit more and more and was forced to push herself harder and harder. It didn’t help that her arms were having issues gripping the bat now.

It fully hit Sora after she stomped out one more Candmon. Her body seized up, and she fell to the ground. 

No, no… She had to protect her Mimi…

(As her awareness faded, three oh so familiar people wrapped her up in the love she so longed for. Mimi wasn’t there and she was glad for that. She may not be a knight, but she would feel sad if she had failed to protect her friend)

~

(Mimi)  
Mimi was confused, and scared.

Sora was acting really scary, and wasn’t even reacting to Hououmon’s disastrous fight with that weird cyber-digimon. Vikemon had been turned to data a couple minutes ago, leaving HerculesKabuterimon and Rosemon to fight Ordinemon on their own. And what was with the fireman carry? She hadn’t even known Sora could do that.

Now, she was standing at the edge of the clump of trees, watching Sora’s fight with apprehension. She didn’t know what to do. If she went and helped Sora, she might just drag Mimi right back to the trees, but if she stayed here…

Mimi flinched as another blast from Hououmon’s fight soared over her head. She wanted to go home. She hadn’t wanted to do that in the middle of a fight since the fight with Piemon.

That was it. She needed to get Sora to help Hououmon. The anxiety the giant phoenix had regarding her partner was practically palpable! She used this motivation to push herself away from the treeline and towards her friend, but she stumbled as she got close enough to fully see what was going on. 

Sora was hurt! 

Burns littered her arms, torso, and legs, with a particularly bad one over her right eye. She was stumbling around, her hits powerful, but sluggish. Mimi gasped, and felt her eyes tear up. Sora was doing this for her. She looked around for a weapon, and when looked up again, Sora was gone. 

Not gone, she realized as she ran closer. Collapsed. 

Luckily for her, there weren’t many digimon left for Mimi to fight through. Her (admittedly forgotten) pocket knife easily scattered their data, and she was able to reach her friend. 

Mimi collapsed to her knees by her orange-haired friend. “Oh no no no no nooo….” Sora looked worse up close. Her breathing was hoarse, and Mimi knew with one glance that healing her eye would be impossible. Looking over the rest of the wounds expressed how unlikely it was for her to even _survive_.

“Sora!”

Jou. She needed Jou. He would know what to do. 

But Jou was gone. She wanted Tai! Taichi would know what to do! But he was gone too, and Mimi was all alone. Mimi never knew what to do! How could she help Sora, all by herself?

A shriek pushed through Mimi’s lament, and she looked up to see a giant explosion where Hououmon had been, with her and her enemy turning to data with downright _horrible_ screams. Mimi pulled Sora closer to her, and huddled as the explosion launched sand all around them.

She sobbed, huddled close to Sora long after the explosion passed. She was sore all over, most of her friends were dead, and there was a ringing in her ears. 

Mimi was not strong. She was not smart. She did not bring anything remotely useful to the team besides Rosemon, but Koushiro was all those things. If she could get Sora to him, he would help.

Her mind made up, Mimi cleared her tears, picked Sora up bridal style, and headed out on shaky legs. 

She had no idea where Koushiro was, but she knew a way to find him. She sent a mental inquiry to Rosemon, and Mimi could feel her pause fighting to search.

_The other end of the beach, to your left_

Mimi thanked her. She felt a little guilty for taking her attention away, but Sora needed it.

Sora wasn’t getting any better as they walked. Mimi knew she wouldn’t have, she had listened to Jou enough to get _that_ , but the blood staining both their uniforms was worrying. She hadn’t thought that burns bled, something about cauterization? The only plus side was that Mimi’s own body was healing. Her ears weren’t ringing anymore, and her arms and legs got less shaky as she walked. 

“Mimi!” The girl in question looked up, to see Koushiro waving in the distance.

“Koushiro!” She shouted back. “Please help, Sora’s hurt!”

She could practically see Koushiro’s confused worry as he ran over, and the audible inhale when he saw Sora made Mimi’s gut twist.

“Lay her down, gently, as flat as you can.”

Mimi was quick to comply, holding back a few tears at her bestie’s wounds. Koushiro placed his fingers over her wrist and frowned. He then moved them to her neck, but the frown didn’t leave.

“Well? Can you do anything?” Mimi was pleading with him. She could guess what he’d found, but she was desperate for him to say _anything_ different.

“Mimi—”

“I mean, you must! You’re Koushiro, you can do anything!” Mimi choked down a sob. “Sora—Sora can’t _die_ , she can’t be dead, you can help her! Right?” She looked up at the smartest person she knew, her tears freely rolling down her cheeks. Koushiro’s silence and heartbroken expression said it all, and Mimi sobbed.

“Mimi...” Her last living digidestined-friend (besides Takeru and Hikari? Where were they, even?) whispered, pulling her in for a hug.

“I just can’t believe they’re all gone,” Her voice cracked, accompanied by heaving sobs. Koushiro ran his hand through her hair, and leaned his head on her shoulder. “It all happened so _fast_.”

“I know...” He whispered back.

Mimi pulled out of the hug and grabbed Koushiro’s shoulders. 

“...Where did all our time go…” She shook her head and lowered it to her friend’s shoulder. 

“I don’t know.” Koushiro was shaking, slightly. Mimi gripped his shoulders harder.

_!!!!!!_

Mimi’s eyes snapped open at the non-verbal warning, just in time for another explosion to run over her.

With identical shouts, she and Koushiro were knocked away. She felt herself hit something hard, and her vision swam. The pain pulsed, and she could feel herself scream. Her ears were ringing again, and this time, there was another feeling. It wasn’t hers, it was her partner. 

Mimi wanted to get up, but whatever she had hit really made her head hurt, and now she wasn’t entirely certain on which way up even was. Her body vibrated with a groan, and Mimi rubbed her head. Okay, that _really_ hurt. So, she was apparently staying down for now.

Rosemon didn’t like that?

Mimi was briefly surprised when her partner swooped in a picked her and Koushiro up, but decided she was too hurt to think about it. She went limp in her partner’s grasp. This was a good time to take a nap.

The light shake Rosemon gave her said, no, that’s not an option. Okay, that also came from the bond, but who even could describe that thing? As far as she knew, the only ones who could call it telepathy were Taichi and Yamato, and telepathy couldn’t even come close to summing up their bond. She was annoyed though. Thinking hurt. Sleeping was always helped, why couldn’t she sleep? It was nap time, now.

Rosemon laid her against a tree, and very firmly instructed her not. to. sleep.

Mimi’s mind very slowly began to clear, and she begrudgingly agreed. Now that she had some semblance of controlled thought, she guessed she had a concussion, and in general sleeping during a battle was unadvised. (No matter how much the throbbing made it seem like a good idea)

But her head wasn’t the only thing that hurt…Mimi looked over to where Rosemon laid Koushiro when he groaned, and saw his body penetrated by a couple of Ordinemon’s feathers. He swayed where he sat, clutching his chest wound, and Mimi gasped. She looked down at her stomach, and saw one of Ordinemon’s feathers there. Her vision swam as she looked at it.

“Oh.” Was all she could say.

(Mimi wasn’t only injured on her stomach. A feather had slashed an arm and chest, and one was stabbed in her thigh, but Mimi couldn’t feel them. Actually, she couldn’t feel any of them. She didn’t know if that was good or bad, but something told her it was just someone’s way of trying to help.)

~

(Koushiro)  
The blast had briefly knocked him unconscious, and when he came to, he hissed. His chest and stomach really hurt, and a quick look down showed why. His right pec had been stabbed by one of Ordinemon’s feathers, and there was a hole in the middle of his gut where another had passed through.

That was just great. The other pains in his chest suggested that more than one of his ribs had been at least cracked, which was even better. He placed a hand on his chest in a feeble attempt to keep the blood _in_ his body, but anybody could look and say that would never work. He needed medical attention immediately if he were to have any chance of survival.

Of course, Ordinemon would also need to be defeated in the next—he glanced at the computer he clutched—8 minutes and 13 seconds, or they wouldn’t be able to _get_ medical attention.

Thinking of…

Koushiro looked over to where Mimi sat. She wasn’t any better off than him. Where his chest at least had the feather still in it, her chest and a good portion of her right arm were just sliced. The feather was still in the wounds on her torso and thigh, however.

Well. At least Koushiro could appreciate Ordinemon’s aim.

“Are,” Koushiro turned to Mimi, and coughed (He tried to ignore the blood.) “Are you...conscious?”

She turned her head towards him, but not any other part of her body. “Barely.” Her reply was hoarse, and Koushiro empathized. He started crawling towards her, keeping pressure on his stomach wound. (In terms of severity he normally would’ve prioritized the one piercing his lung, but the one of his stomach was bleeding more. Too much more.)

When he reached her, his whole body aching, he scooped her up in a hug. They were both dying. He knew it. He knew she knew it too. Koushiro wasn’t very fond of the idea of dying alone, and he thought Mimi felt the same. She scooted to lay in his lap, and he adjusted accordingly. 

Even though the battle going on in front of them was loud, and truthfully very scary, Koushiro felt safe. Mimi was his precious friend, and he her’s, and they would keep each other company.

Of course that was ruined though, by the reappearance of Jesmon.

“Well you all are doing splendidly.” The powerful Holy Knight said with false cheer. Mimi tensed, and Koushiro tightened his grip on her.

“What do you want.” Koushiro spat out.

“To watch your progress. And, to answer my own question, it doesn’t seem to be going very well.” Jesmon nodded at he and Mimi’s wounds. He growled, baring his teeth.

“We can still win. We aren’t defeated yet.” Mimi’s response was weak, accompanied by shivers he knew were not of fear, and a glance at his computer only served to further Koushiro’s (very unhelpful!) doubts. 3 minutes and 48 seconds.

Jesmon let out a bitter laugh.

“At this point, there’s nothing you can do. Most of your team is dead, and those who are not are simply fish lying on a street. Stuck, with no air, and no reprieve in sight. It’s either Ordinemon’s way, or mine.”

Koushiro grit his teeth. This was not going to end either way, not if he had anything he could do about it. 

He had an idea, which he found was rare in the wake of Taichi’s demise, but he would need a minute to put it into play. 

A minute, which neither he nor Mimi may have.

Reluctantly, Koushiro laid Mimi down, who looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. Koushiro didn’t even try to explain his plan; it may mean letting Mimi pass in unease, but if Koushiro had any hope of his plan working, he had to start _earlier_. 

He reached over to his trusty laptop, and started typing. 

“Why do you do this?” Mimi asked, weakly, but with a conviction that made Koushiro’s typing falter slightly. Mimi...Good ol’ Mimi. He hadn’t even asked for (or, truthfully, really needed) a distraction, but she had him covered nonetheless.

“Why? Ordinemon needs to be destroyed.”

“That explains less than you think...you know...” Mimi was panting, and a glance told him she was close to falling unconscious.

Luckily, he was done preparing.

He laid his laptop on the ground and stood up, using the ground as a crutch.

“I have a proposition.” His own voice was starting to sound muddled, even though he put effort into keeping it steady, and even then he knew to _any_ listener it would sound slightly slurred. Jesmon turned to him. He didn’t reply, but Koushiro knew he’d gotten his attention. Beside him, Mimi went fully limp, finally unconscious, and from where she lay, Koushiro could tell her erratic breathing was stilling.

“I want you to turn back time.”

“Absolutely not.” Was the immediate response.

Koushiro lifted an eyebrow. He’d expected that. Of course he’d hoped that Jesmon would outright agree, but he had come prepared so no matter. (Actually it mattered very much. Koushiro knew he was close to hitting the fourth stage of hemorrhagic shock, and it was getting harder and harder to keep himself from just shivering and collapsing. He knew he was dead once the conversation was over.)

“And why not? I know you are capable.”

“I gave you all a chance to defeat Ordinemon, and you all are failing. Whether or not most of your friends died in the attempt is not my problem and never will be. You all have not been needed for years, and with my method, Ordinemon will be defeated without any more issue.”

“That’s where you are incorrect,” Koushiro coughed “There will be issues. You would be destroying all progress made with technology. People hooked up to machines would die, planes would crash, computer data would all be wiped, and so many other bad things, a lot of which resulting in death.”

Jesmon snorted. “And you think that is my problem?”

“No, I know it will be. The digital world has required humans to fight for their battles at least three times now. But who would want to fight for someone that was the direct _and_ indirect cause of the death of millions.” Internally, Koushiro smirked. Externally, he made a show of wiping blood from his lips. 

The flying swords rack (ha! Wasn’t that a funny image) raised an eyebrow. “They would not know.” Koushiro let his smirk rise.

He almost thought he was imagining Jesmon’s eyes widening, with how little they did so, but the glare was far more obvious. “What did you do.”

“You’d be surprised how easy it is to hack into public news stations when there’s no one around to run them. Any person with access to a cellphone or radio or in eyesight of an electronic billboard knows what’s going on.” 

Jesmon growled. “It is your fault that Ordinemon exists in the first place.” 

“On the contrary,” Koushiro blinked slowly, placing his hand on a tree trunk to keep himself steady “It is not mine at all. I’d say _you_ played a much higher role in that than me.”

“How **dare** you blame me for your own mistake!” Jesmon sneered. Ordinemon let out a roar of pain, and Koushiro felt more than one person’s pleasure at the sound.

“Ordinemon was created when Hikari and Meiko’s partners fused. The only reason THAT happened was because Hikari went into a form of emotional shock. Which was directly caused by the death of her brother. Which occurred due to you redirecting Alphamon’s attack,” No need to mention Taichi’s choice to send Omegamon to Yamato. Jesmon opened his mouth to respond, but Koushiro beat him to it. “Not to mention, we would have been able to defeat Ordinemon if Taichi were here. He is our leader, and a _necessary_ fourth of our best fighter. But instead of being here to help us defend our home, he’s lying dead somewhere in the digital world.” The pain in his heart grew as he _felt_ his other best friend be deleted, with a final roar. 

Koushiro humorlessly chuckled, eyebrows furrowed and arms clutching himself in a self hug. “You need humans, need _us_ far more than you want to admit. The ONE time you directly interfered, the digital world was reset— _which failed to do anything but make things worse_ —, my best friends died, we lost our strongest fighter, the human world was thrown into chaos, Hikari went into a coma, the rest of us original digidestined are either dead, fatally wounded, or missing, and your only options left are to either sever your chances of having any more humans help the digital world or turn back time and not interfere.” Koushiro’s vision was practically gone by the time he finished his rant, and he was panting. He feared he wouldn’t hear Jesmon’s response, either because of the static in his ears or his imminent death.

“...Very well, human,” Koushiro looked up (wait, when had he fallen down?) towards the blob of white-gray. The rest of Jesmon’s sentence was drowned out, as he felt the cold thralls of unconsciousness grab him at last. 

But no sooner had his vision had been turned black, it faded to white. And he got the distinct feeling someone was shaking him.

“…ro….ou….Kosh…..Koushiro, come on. Wake up.”

He was laying down. But he didn’t feel the ground under him. With a groan, his eyes fluttered open.

The color that he saw with eyes closed didn’t go away. His eyebrows furrowed, and he finally noticed the arm around his torso and the lap he was sitting in. Thinking was like swimming in fog; he looked confusedly down at _familiar_ tan arm, unable to discern who’s it was.

A distinctly amused snort broke through the fog, and he looked up. His eyes widened.

“Taichi!”

“Koushiro!” Taichi grinned cheekily down at him, familiar and so so so _alive_ , so free of the weight he used to carry before, and Koushiro wanted to cry. 

“You did a good job, Kou,” Mimi bound up to him, slinging an arm around his shoulder and shoving Taichi, who yelped but kept his hold of Koushiro.

“We’re so proud of you,” Sora smiled softly. Piyomon, perched on her head, nodded with a smile.

“Koushiro!” Motimon launched himself to Koushiro’s chest, and snuggled up there. A couple hot tears fell down Koushiro’s cheeks, and he laughed euphorically. 

“Motimon!” He was there! They all were! He looked over all them. Joe, Yamato, Sora, Mimi, Meiko-san, Taichi, Motimon, Gomamon, Nyaromon, Koromon, Tunomon, Piyomon, everyone! 

...except for Hikari and Takeru.

His confusion must’ve been showing, as Taichi easily picked up on the unasked question “We’re the only ones here. Hikari and Takeru didn’t die—” “They better not have!” Yamato interrupted, and Taichi glared— “ _so_ they aren’t in this…void, thingy.”

Koushiro couldn’t help a smile at the weak sentence ending. He had really missed these people.

~

(Homeostasis)  
Knowledge brought up a good point. Resetting the human world would not end well for either party, and even a being like Homeostasis knew that not having human allies wouldn't end well for ter. A quick glance into other realities proved the child’s other points. In this universe, Courage was not saved. And those were the only the universes in which Ordinemon was not defeated by the Chosen. It also seemed that in the singular timeline where Jesmon did not interfere, that everything was resolved much more peacefully. This made it pretty upset. 

Very well. It seemed Knowledge was correct. It seemed the best course of action would be to turn back time.

Of course, that was no simple feat. With the digital world, it was less tasking for them and Jesmon, but there was a much higher risk of things going wrong. As it was whenever the Digital World's core data had to be reset or changed. Portals appearing too soon after changes were very dangerous, holding higher risk of making something go wrong and being a sign of instability. Of course, this was how Homeostasis had found out how wrong the reboot had gone. It sensed all these portals appearing, only a week after the change. For turning back time for the human world, it would be different than simply rebooting technology. Harder, for one. Homeostasis would have to give Jesmon more of his energy than with the digital world reboot, but as much as the task was more difficult, it was also more stable. There was little to no chance of there being problems, which you would not expect of a task so extravagant as time rewinding.

As such, she believed it was a good idea to do a linked Reboot.

A linked reboot tied the pros and cons of both worlds’ form of time rewinding. It cost an insane amount of energy, enough to make human world time rewinding seem easy. However, doing so would prevent the digital world from destabilizing, and would allow ter to make changes as tey wished, such as removing Apoclymon before he was ever an issue. They could also save everyone the issue of going through the process of finding the Chosen and their partners, by ensuring their souls were reincarnated, or ‘born’, to the same people and in the same condition they were before. Of course, as with all time changes, things would probably be different. But she believed in his own Chosen, and in their capabilities to deal with any issues. 

“ _Jesmon, prepare to turn back time_.”

Yes, doing this would severely limit his ability to interfere if anything went wrong in the rewound timeline, but it had made her decision. 

“ _Good luck, Chosen. Have a nice second chance_.”

~

(Taichi)  
When the blast hit, Taichi’s world faded to white. He closed his fist (or at least what he thought was his fist) where Greymon had been but it closed to nothing.

Was that it?

Had they failed, leaving Tokyo (and thus his mom, his dad, Sora, Koushiro, and _Hikari_ ) to the mercy of that-that _monster_ and his missile? Panic filled Taichi’s being for a few…somethings, some digit of time, but it was quelled.

Soft as two feathers touching pure children hands, yet as powerful as two protectors fighting for their loved ones, a warm light filled his being.

And with it, Taichi could sense them. Greymon, with his boundless energy and bright optimism, Yamato, with his chill demeanor and underlying loneliness, and Garurumon, with his firm loyalty and soft exasperation. 

They were all so different, and yet they seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces. Coming together to make one big, _familiar_ picture.

He was not one being anymore. He was four. This digimon was four different beings, their combined beings and wills merging in a way so foreign but so well known it gave them vertigo. He could feel _himself_ float to his partner’s left shoulder, as if _he_ were simply an extra limb for his consciousness to keep track of. (He found himself wanting to hold Yamato’s hand for some reason.)

“Taichi. Yamato.”

His eyes opened, and _Taichi_ glared powerfully down at that digimon who put his family in danger. He could sense _Yamato_ do the same through a tentative, not-quite-formed bond. The _aura_ running through all four’s veins gave them a sense of calm, but also a shot of pure adrenaline, and they could sense their surroundings in a way they hadn’t before.

 _Yamato_ and _Taichi_ kept watch on the battle, in a way the cumulation of their wills could not. 

Everything one saw, the rest saw too, and it was exhilarating. And confusing. They hadn’t even been fighting for a minute and he already couldn’t discern who’s emotions or thoughts were who’s. 

The GreySword stabbed the Virus, and Taichi, and thus the rest of them, tapped a part of _whatever_ they were. It jiggled, like a raindrop on a leap, but didn’t burst.

 _Not yet..._ Something told them, and ruffled the mental equivalent of his and Yamato’s hair.

 _Taichi_ and _Yamato_ blinked when Koushiro told them of the bomb’s progress, that raindrop jiggled again, and they all felt exasperated. Like...this had happened before?

 _Not yet…_ It whispered again, this time different. Cooler, more suave.

The deja vu only increased as they raised the GreySword to change the directory ( _’Trajectory’, accompanied with someone hitting someone else over the head_ ) of the missile and hit an all time high as they stabbed it.

For a second, the scenery changed and they were...somewhere else. Before any could get a grasp on where exactly, they were _splitting_.

From one person of four to one person of one, Taichi was left all alone and so _hot_ , yelling and reaching for Agumon.

(The all-prevailing white was so familiar but so _not_ that he couldn’t decide whether to scream, cry, break down, or plead for _anyone_ to decide he was worth keeping around. And that was such an unfamiliar feeling that Taichi felt he was going crazy. His family loved him, his friends loved him, he was useful. Right?)

~

(???)  
You could not mourn for something you did not know about. People everyday mourn for the children that die or starvation all over, but no one knows about the reset timeline, about the people that lived and died to protect the future. They will never know, and there will never be a conclusion for any of them. No one will ever know that things had once ended differently. No one will ever know about the kids and the warriors that did so much for so many, and in the end never got their happy endings. No one will ever know how the Chosens' parents felt, watching one of their children stand and declare his friends dead. No one will ever know how Hououmon felt, feeling Sora mentally breakdown while she fought to keep the world safe from another foe. No one will ever know about how _great_ the innocents were, and how bright their lives were. So many mysteries, ideas, futures. So many tears, blood, and pain. So many people wish they could have second chances, and this is it. A second chance. A future lived and died, the past, the _future_ , of old no longer existing. It is as they say, you do not know what you’ve forgotten until you remember it. And that may very well be the saddest part. For if no one remembers you, did you really even exist? 

~

**Author's Note:**

> The three unnamed digimon were, in order of appearance, Jazarichmon, Calamaramon (like the one from Frontier if you've seen it), and Ebemon. I'm actually quite sad I didn't want to write the digimons' perspectives, that would've been so cool. Especially Hououmon.
> 
> If there's anything you thought was weird, please comment! I had a lot of reasoning for pretty much everything, and I would love to hear what I expressed well and what I didn't!
> 
> Also, Meiko, Taichi, and Mimi definitely had self-worth issues, and Jou would wake up every morning surprised he was still alive. You can fight me on this. To me, the saddest part of my time-reversal idea was that it ended with them never getting the help they deserved :(


End file.
